Tech in Africa
Swedish-Kenya technology company Opibus has introduced the first-ever electric bus in Kenya including the continent’s first designed electric bus. A creation arrived at by leveraging local manufacturers and global suppliers to achieve a product tailored for the continent’s public transport sector. This is the first step in the company’s vision to provide locally designed and developed electric buses that developed electric buses that can be mass-produced for the pan-African market by the end of 2023.
Founded in 2017, Opibus proprietary electric vehicle platform is the key to this new technology. The bus is designed and locally developed in-house using local engineering talent while also utilizing local manufacturing partners. This has created a bus suitable for Africa’s use cases in terms of durability, reliability, and price points. Local and global contract manufacturers are also used to create globally competitive products with can be rapidly scaled up.
Opibus points out that the bus costs way less than importing fully electric buses. It also offers superior performance when compared to its diesel counterparts. A powerful motor gives the bus maximum torque improving its performance while enabling the driver to accelerate responsively. The electric bus lacks combustion engines or manual gearboxes meaning no oil, filters, gaskets that need changing. This reduces maintenance expenses by 80% when compared to an ordinary diesel bus.
The first deployment will be along peri-urban areas around Nairobi Metropolitan accompanied by a business model helping operators save money. In addition to the bus deployment, several charging stations will be added alongside Opibus’ already existing product range. The chargers are a mix of slow (AC) and fast (DC). Using the fast chargers, it will only take an hour to resume seamless operations.
We are proud to announce Kenya’s first-ever electric bus, completely designed and developed in Africa.
Leveraging local manufacturers and global suppliers we have built a vehicle tailored for the African public transport sector.
More on the electric bus: https://t.co/Xlhjq1H0YE pic.twitter.com/0hG1RrImVk
— Roam (@roamelectric) January 19, 2022
